Jeong Jeong at My Lai
by McJunker
Summary: The collection of evidence for and against the celebrated Fire Nation Admiral, dealing with his alleged actions at the Earth Kingdom village of My Lai.
1. Corporal Sou's Testimony

A/N: A brief explanation of the style- it's basically going to be interviews with a variety of people, each giving their perspective of what happened, along with various findings that Xin comes up with, copies of important documents, and so on. Each piece of evidence will be followed by Ichizami breaking it down to its vital parts. By the end, the court martial and its results will occur.

I'm aware that the format is unorthodox enough to possibly throw some off. I can only ask you to bear with it long enough for a decent whole to be formed.

* * *

><p><strong>FROM THE CASE BOOK OF YURI ICHIZAMI<strong>

**ADMIRAL JEONG JEONG COURT MARTIAL INITIAL NOTES AND EVIDENCE**

**INTERVIEW #1, CORPORAL SOU**

Interviewer: Corporal, hello. I'm Ichizami, and this is my assistant Xin. Please, be seated.

[Sou sits]

I: Do you have any objection to having Xin record this interview?

Sou: No.

I: Alright. The purpose of this is to provide the court with a fuller undertstanding of what happened in My Lai. The Fire Sages have decided that the eyewitness testimony of a soldier who was actually on the ground would be illuminating.

S: I understand.

I: So, in your own words, what happened, Corporal?

S: Well...

I: Yes?

S: I'm just not sure how to do this, sir. I'm, er...

I: Just tell me the story, just like you'd tell a buddy in the barracks.

S: Alright. Well, you gotta understand, sir, we'd been getting ambushed for years in and around My Lai. Local guerillas would just stake out the road and wait for us to come along. It got so that they'd use the same hiding spots and positions over and over again, you know? So we'd approach some bend in the road, and we'd be saying to ourselves, "We got ambushed in this exact spot three times in the last two weeks. Everyone, light up and prepare for contact." And more often than not, we'd be right and we'd have to fight our way through it. It was beyond ridiculous. We conquered the province years ago and we couldn't march from base to base without passing through a warzone.

I: I had no idea things were like that. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. Go on.

S: Well, when the Admiral transferred landside, he didn't like what he saw. Within, I think, a month of taking command of the 3rd Infantry, he took very proactive steps in dealing with the Earth Kingdom rebels.

I: For example?

S: Ah, at first the Admiral had us establish permanent outposts strung along the mountain range between our bases. He wanted to post artillery up there so that whenever a convoy was attacked we could rain fire on 'em in a heartbeat.

[Sou laughs]

S: We spent a week hauling those catapults up those mountains. I never bitched so hard in my life. And it never worked out! That's what got to us. Those villagers waited for us to put in the hard work, and then undermined our posts. We got to watch our fire support tumble down the mountainside.

[Sou laughs]

S: That was messed up. But yeah, the Admiral didn't stop there. He ordered more vigorous patrolling along frequently used roads, he spent money out of pocket for better arms and armor, he authorized us to kill suspected insurgents as a first resort. Basically, he turned our whole attitude around. Instead of going out the gate wondering if we were going to make it to our destination, we started betting how many rebels we'd bag.

I: I'm sorry; you were authorized to kill civilians?

S: If they were hostile or threatening, yeah.

I: By what standard?

S: What?

I: What criteria did the suspect need to meet before he was labelled hostile? Did he need to be found with a weapon, did he need to be actively attacking, or...

S: It was a gut check. Say you meet an old man on the road, and a few minutes later you're under attack. You figure, he might have sent a signal so that they'd know we were coming. So if you see him again on your next patrol, maybe you play it safe. And armed or unarmed didn't factor into it. Earthbenders don't need swords.

I: I understand. Did this aggressive policy work?

S: Mostly. We still had contact a lot, but the intensity was nowhere near what it was before the Admiral came.

I: Alright. Tell me what happened at My Lai.

S: Uh, the week before we went in, Sergeant Zhu sent the word to prepare for a big mission. So I go and check my soldiers' gear, make sure no one was missing anything vital or had broken equipment. Once I verified we were good to go, Zhu said that the Admiral was planning to strike at a rebel stronghold.

I: Did he mention that the stronghold was the village of My Lai?

S: Um... not till two days before.

I: Alright. What happened when you went in?

S: We timed the assault for the early morning, when any honest villagers would have left for market. The Admiral said that anyone remaining in the village was either an enemy combatant or a sympathiser. We went in hot, like we were on the front lines.

I: How many casualties did you suffer?

S: None of my boys got hurt. Neither did anyone in my platoon. I heard that we had one dead in third platoon and another three wounded from a booby trap on the way in.

I: So no one was fighting back.

[Sou glares]

S: This interview is over.

I: Coporal, I'm just-

S: I know what you were just trying to do, sir. You're trying to paint the Admiral as some kind of war criminal. We heard on the grapevine some slick-as-shit civilian was trying to nail the Admiral for what we did there.

I: We need a clear understanding of what actually happened before we can accuse or exonerate him of anything.

S: Alright then. We went in, we took out the enemy, and we went home almost entirely unscathed. I'm very sorry you can't recognize that as a success, Mr. Ichizami. You should be giving him a medal, not a court martial.

**CONCLUSIONS BASED ON TESTIMONY**

-Corporal Sou showed a shocking ignorance of the regulations concerning treatment of the inhabitants of the newly acquired colonies, ignorance which appears to be universal in the Fire Nation army.

-His testimony indicates that Admiral Jeong Jeong seems to have left the categorization of enemy combatants in the hands of the rank and file soldier, resulting in an environment where any civilian could become a "valid" target on a whim.

-Admiral Jeong Jeong's strategic competence failed him, as his assessment that "all honest villagers would be at the market", thus leaving behind only the insurgency, proved to be mistaken. Xin's research indicates that the assault took place on an Earth Kingdom holiday, thus the local market would have been deserted. Willful ignorance of local customs a possible contribution to the My Lai massacre.

-Frustration omnipresent in ranks. Admiral Jeong Jeong's solutions merely replaced it with aggression untempered by discipline.

-Corporal Sou unlikely to appear as witness for the prosecution.


	2. Private Shang's Testimony

**FROM THE CASE FILES OF YURI ICHIZAMI**

**ADMIRAL JEONG JEONG COURT MARTIAL INITIAL NOTES AND EVIDENCE**

**INTERVIEW #2, PVT. SHANG**

Interviewer: Pvt. Shang, my name is Yuri Ichizami. The Fire Sages have sent me to hear your testimony. This is Xin, my assistant.

S: Yes, sir.

I: Any objection to having Xin transcibe what we say?

S: None.

I: Alright. Now, you were there when elements of the 3rd Infantry took My Lai.

[Shang nods]

I: In your own words, tell me what happened.

S: We burned them all.

I: Okay.

S: We established the perimeter to ensure security. We went door to door looking for enemy fighters.

[Shang falls silent for some time]

I: Did you find any?

[Shang laughs. He starts crying]

S: If they were hiding, they were hostile. If they ran, they were hostile. If they tried to talk to us, they were hostile. We locked women and children inside their little wooden huts and burned them to the ground. We cut them down as they ran. We shot them if they could outrun us.

I: Did Admiral Jeong Jeong give the order to attack the populace?

S: I don't know. I just know that our NCOs gave the order to go in hot. And once we were in the town itself, we just made crazy.

I: Crazy. Crazy in what way?

S: I don't know. It was like... we burned out of control.

I: I hate to ask this, private, but... did you take part in the fighting?

S: Weren't no fighting. None of them fought back.

I: But did you take part?

[Shang silent for a long time]

S: After our first sweep through, Lieutenant Chen had us about face and go through again. This time, we gathered up all the villagers who survived the first run through. We got them in a rough line up against the mud wall that surrounded the vilage. Once we got them organized, we killed them all. I stabbed one kid, couldn't have been more than 10. Too young to tell if it was a boy or a girl. After that, I just watched.

I: Who gave that order?

S: They were all crying, and screaming for help. They knew what we were going to do, even when I didn't.

I: Who gave the order, private?

S: I don't remember hearing the order. Just, one second there were crying women an kids and old folk, the next we were savaging them.

I: If you never heard the order, why did you strike?

S: Everyone else was doing it. The order must have been given, I don't know.

I: Alright. I think that about covers it, Pvt. Shang. Thank you for your cooperation.

S: You have to convict him, sir. You have to. Him and me and anyone else who was there. We stained the Fire Nation's honor with blood in My Lai.

**CONCLUSIONS BASED ON TESTIMONY**

-Provides direct evidence of atrocities commited.

-Establishes that the villagers offered no resistance

-Unclear whether atrocities were ordered, or whether they were a result in lack of discipline

-Must find Pvt. Shang's squadmates for interview. Could provide clearer picture of what orders were given (see attached file for names, ranks, and serial numbers). Unlikely to find, as most are still fighting in the Earth Kingdom.

-There was a definite breakdown of communication between the officers and the men on the ground.

-Pvt. Shang may appear for prosecution, must provide security to prevent him from being intimidated or silenced by fellow soldiers.

**FROM THE CASE FILES OF XIN TAO**

**DOCUMENT #1, COPY OF ORDERS GIVEN BY ADMIRAL JEONG JEONG FOR ASSAULT ON MY LAI**

_Attached note: Sir, the records depot had been raided before I could reach it- all copies of the orders had been cleaned out. However, tracked down a copy given to one Captain Li. Hope it helps_

Commander's intent: I wish to assault, overcome, and establish a permenant garrison in the rebel stronghold of My Lai.

Elements to be used:

1st Battalion, 3rd infantry shall provide perimeter security for the duration of the mission, and will designate two companies as a reserve to be used we encounter heavy resistance.

2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry will assault from the north, destroying any resistance and securing all hamlets in their assigned area.

3rd Battalion, 3rd Infantry will assault from the south, destroying any resistance and securing all hamlets in their assigned area.

1st Battalion, 45th Field Artillery will establish bases along the eastern mountain range and provide fire support for the operation.

Rules of Engagement: Code Orange, to be lessened to Code Yellow once the village is taken. Captains and above may adjust as needed to meet the needs of their sectors.

Battalion commanders, distribute the necessary orders to your subordinates and meet with me to receive specific instructions.

**CONCLUSIONS BASED ON DOCUMENT**

-Code Orange indicates that each soldier should engage the enemy only if they have express permission from their platoon leader or if under direct attack. Given that the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were to meet in the center of the village, this may have been to lessen the possibility of friendly fire and collateral damage. Code Yellow indicates garrison status.

-Based on Corporal Sou's and Pvt. Shang's accounts, it appears that each Captain in the regiment had decided to up it to Code Red- engage on sight.

-It is unknown to what extent Admiral Jeong Jeong encouraged the adoption of Code Red.

-The language of the commander's intent indicates that Admiral Jeong Jeong was convinced that My Lai was held by enemy forces.


	3. Sergeant Cho's Testimony

**FROM THE CASE FILES OF YURI ICHIZAMI**

**ADMIRAL JEONG JEONG COURT MARTIAL INITIAL NOTES AND EVIDENCE**

**INTERVIEW #3, CAPTAIN YAO**

_Attached note: Captain Yao currently fighting in the Omashu province, and unavailable for direct interview. Testimony delivered via messenger hawk._

Honored sir,

I regret that I cannot deliver anything more personalized than a short note. Nonetheless, I have an answer for your query.

There is a major difference, both in tactics and in mindset, behind conquering a town and reconquering one that was subdued years ago. Most of my direct experience lies in the former, but I've recieved the standard training regading the latter.

No, targeting the local populace is not and has never been encouraged in seizing towns anew. Firelord Sozin's doctrines, which have stood strong over almost a hundred years of war, have emphasized that the newly acquired colonies are to be considered as part of the Fire Nation, subject to our laws, yes, yet still entitled to our protection. In short, we are to pressure them until they bend the knee again, not wipe them out for their transgressions.

That said, and with all respect to the great Sozin, if my men were guerrilla hunting in what's supposed to be friendly territory and we had to retake a town, I would fully understand if they vented their frustrations on the rebels, and rebuke them to the minimum extent allowed under our laws of war.

In the hopes that I've been of help,

Captain Yao

**CONCLUSIONS BASED ON INTERVIEW**

-Captain Yao confirms that there is no legal defense for targeting women and children in an assault within our own territory.

-Are there any common law exceptions to Sozin's doctrine? Must have Xin do research.

-Based on Captain Yao's personal feelings, possible that Admiral Jeong Jeong encouraged the atrocities, possibly unofficially.

-Minor evidence over all, may be inadmissable.

**INTERVIEW #4, SGT. CHO**

Interviewer: Sergeant, thanks for meeting with me.

Cho: Not a problem, sir.

I: Xin will be recording this interview, alright?

C: Of course.

I: You... you were the one who first reported the excesses at My Lai, correct?

C: Yes, sir.

I: Would you please tell me what you saw?

C: Everything. I saw everything right as it was happening. I'm a spotter for a ballista battery in the 45th, and it was literally my job to watch the battle unfold.

I: So...

C: So I realized within the first minute of the fight that we weren't going to be needed. My platoon mates were down the mountain aways, on their little fire base. They couldn't see nothing, that's what I was for. I was in a foxhole near the top of a spur, under cover and concealment, observing for enemy forces, or a signal from the infantry boys that fire support was needed. It wasn't needed at all, but some one called for it anyway.

I: Who?

C: I don't know. I just saw the flame sign for "fire support" from the 3rd Battalion, near the start of the thing. I couldn't see any targets, and My Lai was crawling with friendlies, so I didn't pass it on to the battery.

I: I'm not familiar with how to call for fire. Did the signaller just ask that you shoot at random?

[Cho snorts]

C: No.

[Cho sends a stream of yellow fire from his fingertips in a safe direction]

C: See how it flutters, all zig zagged? That's the sign that you want support. The direction is whatever way its pointing. The distance is roughly given by how long the stream is. So a really long strand of fire means that I should be looking for targets out a kilometer or more, or something. Shorter means I should be looking right in front of the signaller.

I: How long was the strand?

C: Half a foot at most. Guy must have made contact with some one real close. But if there was an enemy that close, why didn't I see the others fighting?

I: Now you said that within the first minute of-

C: I'm not done yet, sir. I haven't told you the, uh, what do you call it, the implications yet.

I: Go on.

C: I walked through My Lai afterwards. I went to where I had seen the signal. Right in front of me was a burned out tavern. Didn't look too classy, you know, just an ordinary, run of the mill watering hole for the peasantry. But it was fairly large, you know, spacious. And it was filled to capacity with charred skeletons. There was also a melted padlock on what was left of the front door.

I: Are you saying...

C: Some sick bastard locked up a bunch of civilians in the tavern, then called for fire on it. When no fire came, he had to burn it down personally.

I: I... I see.

C: That wasn't all. I... I mean, I wasn't surprised by what I found at the tavern. I watched them all for the duration of the mission, and there were columns of fire ten times the height of a man, and I saw them just... I mean...

I: Calm yourself, Sergeant.

C: It was wrong, sir. I saw everything we did and it was wrong.

I: Okay, just one or two more questions and I think we'll be done here. Do you know where Admiral Jeong Jeong was during the attack?

C: He went in with 2nd Battalion. Tip of the spear.

I: Did he witness or take part in the attacks on the civilians?

C: He definitely saw it go down. Couldn't say if he actually did anything himself.

I: When did you report it?

C: Uh... about a week later. It took me that long to find a superior who didn't already know about what we did.

I: Alright, thank you for your testimony, Sergeant Cho.

C: I've received death threats.

I: What?

C: I hear someone knocking on my barracks door in the middle of the night, and when I get out of my bunk to answer the door, I find that someone lit a fire at my doorstep. I get letters from home, someone scribbled over the back of it, saying I'm a traitor who deserves to burn.

I: Have you reported this?

C: Yes, but I think my platoon leader approves of it.

I: I can arrange protection for you, Sergeant Cho.

C: Thank you. I just wanted these threats on the record so that if I don't make it to the court martial...

I: I understand. I can help.

C: Thank you.

**CONCLUSIONS BASED ON EVIDENCE**

-Sergeant Cho can place Admiral Jeong Jeong at the scene, indicates that he gave personal approval to the adoption of Code Red.

-Provide security from among homeland militia, less likely to hold a grudge than front line troops.

-Xin suggests interview with Lieutenant Colonel Ji Yeon, commander of 2nd Battalion; concur

-Details of burned tavern may provide strong appeal to emotion; grill Sergeant Cho for details

-Sergeant Cho's description of the artillery's inactivity a lead. Xin located the 45th's AAR- confirms that they never had a valid target through out the battle

-Sergeant Cho willing to appear as a witness for the prosecution.


	4. Commander Zhao's Testimony

A/N: One more chapter, and this fic will be done. I'll finish before March 10th.

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><p><strong>FROM THE CASE FILES OF XIN TAO<strong>

**ADMIRAL JEONG JEONG COURT MARTIAL INTIAL NOTES AND EVIDENCE**

**DOCUMENT #2, EXCERPT FROM _COMBAT FIREBENDING: TACTICS, TECHNIQUES, AND PROCEDURES_, BY ADMIRAL JEONG JEONG**

_Attached note: This is the manual distributed by Admiral Jeong Jeong during his command of the Joint Task Force. At the time of the incident at My Lai, there were enough copies in circulation for every squad to have one._

Earthbending's core strength is that of passive security. Its attacks are as ponderous and obvious as a glacier; its defenses, nigh impenetrable. However, if an Earthbender and a Firebender of equal skill engage each other, the Firebender will triumph nine times out of ten.

This is due to several tactical considerations- the vulnerability of human flesh to the living flame; the agility and dexterity that our Firebending master instill in us; the lack of significant offensive capabilities in the Earth Kingdom's repertoire. However, it all comes down to one difference in philosophy- we are aiming to destroy our enemy while our enemy is trying to not be destroyed. We may fail at our task a thousand times and suffer no loss, but one slip up on the part of the Earthbender spells his doom.

Learn this well. When we fight we must be swift, strong, and terrible. Relenting in our iron determination to kill our enemies is nothing more than weakness holding us back from our true potential. Indeed, our will to power is the only thing that stands between the Fire Nation and defeat.

**CONCLUSIONS BASED ON DOCUMENT**

-Admiral Jeong Jeong's advice on Firebending, while appropriate enough for a tactical analysis of Earth vs. Fire combat, may have influenced his soldiers towards less humane conduct during the incident at My Lai.

-The emphasis on willpower over discipline encourages irresponsibility.

**FROM THE CASE FILES OF XIN TAO**

**INTERVIEW # 5, COMMANDER ZHAO**

_Attached note: Sir, I wrote Col. Ji Yeon to get his side of the story. I got no response from him, but Com. Zhao wrote me next day. Suspect he intercepted letter. Background on Com. Zhao is he was Admiral Jeong Jeong's personal assistant. He knows better than anyone what was planned and what occurred, but please note that he's a slimy motherfucker. Do not trust account._

_Attached note: Refrain from vulgarity in official documents, Xin. If we had the time and resources, I'd burn this and make you rewrite it by hand. Also- duly noted._

Honored Sirs,

I am given to understand that you and your master are investigating the recent military action taken in the village of My Lai. While I am not entirely clear on why any investigation is needed, it would be an honor to assist you in your endeavors.

Admiral Jeong Jeong has been a close friend and mentor to me since the day I left the Academy. I grieves me deeply to hear that you and Fire Sage Ichizami harbor suspicions that such a great man has committed "war crimes". Let me assure you, the man is a hero of the Fire Nation, and his actions both in the course of his career and at the Battle of My Lai do him great credit.

When he and I were transferred landside to take charge of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, what we saw shocked and horrified us. Our brave fighting men were being ambushed and harried daily. Morale was depleted; our supply situation was untenable; there were vast tracts of forest and mountains were we could not travel, save in great numbers and even then only by hurrying through before the guerrillas caught us. The enemy, while possessing a certain low cunning akin to a cobra-rat, was not particularly brilliant in tactics or strategy. But we could not bring any effective pressure on the Earthbending rebels, because our hands were tied, as it were, by absurd rules and regulations imposed upon us by ignorant fools thousands of miles away from our problems.

The Admiral would not stand for that. When he was forced to choose between a weak and foolish limitation and common sense, he threw that limitation out and told the men on the ground to do anything it took to destroy the enemy and put an end to the endless strife in our new colony. If that be a crime, then charge him guilty. Yet I'll gladly enter an Agni Kai with anyone who dares say that he was wrong to do so.

I was involved with planning the assault on the enemy bastion of My Lai. This was to be the fight that ends all fights- the Admiral knew where the enemy slept and meant to burn them out in a single day of blood and fire. If I may be so bold, I suspect that it may be this iron resolve that caused your unnecessary investigation into Admiral Jeong Jeong's actions. For until a man has stood on the battle ground and fought the endless fight against the enemies of our great Nation, the bold and frank talk of a professional soldier may strike him as brutal and barbaric. I assure you, the destruction of our enemies is always necessary, even if it repels those of more refined constitutions.

I address now, sir, the absurd rumors that we fought only innocent woman and children. We did not. Every man we slew was in arms against Firelord Ozai, and our attack was swift, certain, and completely effective. The punishment for rebellion is fire and blood- this has been a constant since the first days the war. Our every action was honorable and courageous, and not a few of our brave soldiers gave their lives to bring peace and stability into the region. Speaking frankly, sir, I am deeply offended at the implication that their sacrifice was in service to a "war crime". Nonetheless, you are merely performing your duty as given, and I want you to know that I understand why you would blacken their names even as their ashes are sent home to their families.

Having said that, I freely admit that there was considerable collateral damage. Admiral Jeong Jeong had anticipated this possibility, but we jointly decided that our objective- that of breaking the back of the province's rebel forces- was far more important than the townfolk's well-being. For that matter, merely by harboring Earthbenders and refusing to turn them in to the proper authorities made them implicit in their rebellion. In this case, it was deemed necessary to destroy the village in order to save it from the rebels.

Admiral Jeong Jeong did the right thing, honored sirs. I think that if you were to put aside your biases and view My Lai dispassionately, you would see the truth of this and put aside your planned court martial.

In your service,  
>Commander Zhao<p>

**CONCLUSIONS BASED ON TESTIMONY**

- Conflicts considerably with other accounts.

- Records show only one slain by booby trap on way into village with several others wounded.

-Average number of commendations for bravery in a pitched battle: 1 given per 32 soldiers in combat. Number of commendations given at My Lai: 6 total, approximately 1 per 600. Who were they fighting?

-Unsure how Com. Zhao intercepted Col. Ji Yeon's letter. Suspicious.

-Unclear logic

-Attempts at emotional blackmail.

-Concur with Xin's initial assessment of Com. Zhao's character.


	5. The Deserter's Testimony

The man was dressed in simple yet rich crimson robes, and was alone in his private chambers. In his hand was a letter from his assistant.

His hand shook as it gripped the paper- it was an old man's hand, he now noticed. The web of skin between the index finger and the thumb was saggy, wrinkled. Blue veins stood out like hills across the back of his hand. The fingers were bent and crooked with arthritis, and scarred from decades of Firebending. He could have sworn that just yesterday that his hand had been young, whole, and strong.

Sergeant Cho was dead: suicide, Xin had indicated. He had been found in his barracks hanging from the rafters, with a stool toppled over next to him. The old man in the crimson robes didn't know if Cho had been driven to it or if his comrades had given him some assistance. It scarcely mattered, as far as he could tell. It was the same cause and same result. He hoped that Private Chang was safe in his new duty of guarding a useless pile of rusty spare parts in a naval yard, thousands of miles away from the front line. The home militia were less savage then their counterparts.

Yuri Ichizami had failed. Firelord Ozai had personally overseen the trial. After hearing the prosecution and the defense, he had decided to award Admiral Jeong Jeong the Order of Agni Kuro, the highest honor a soldier or sailor can be given. When Ichizami had protested, the Firelord had informed him that if the Earth Kingdom was ever to be subdued, then drastic and brutal methods needed to be utilized. Firelord Ozai explicitly approved of the massacre of the civilians. Every word out of Ichizami's mouth had elevated the Admiral in his eyes. Placing royal favor on the atrocities would encourage other commanders to do the same.

Sergeant Cho and Private Chang had backed the wrong horse. One had paid with his life, the other with his career. Ichizami and Xin were unharmed because not even Firelord Ozai would interfere with the Fire Sages without a compelling reason. But a few private, whispered conversations from his fellow sages had convinced him that he would need to keep his head down in the future.

The old man in crimson robes was alone in his room. The world had just become a worse place in which to live, and he wasn't sure if it was his fault or not. He felt an absurd desire to crawl into bed and cover his head with the blanket until everything in the world that was terrible dissolved away.

The letter fluttered lightly to the scarlet carpet as the old man wept softly to himself.

* * *

><p>Morning. Covers shoved down to his knees from a fit of bad dreams he couldn't recall. The sunlight spilled in from the wide window facing to east.<p>

The old man picked himself out of bed and dressed swiftly and sullenly. He hadn't checked, but it was obvious that all the terrible things in the world were still around.

* * *

><p>The old man didn't know what came over him. His was a well-ordered, logical life- he did not recall a single instance of spontaneity or whimsy in his life.<p>

Nonetheless, once he left his quarters, he found his feet heading for the stables.

He tipped the kid who cared for the ostrich-horses generously. The little boy grinned wide as he bowed. His jet black bangs drooped down to hide the face, but were flipped back casually as he pocketed the silver.

The old man said, "You're Earth Kingdom, yes?"

The kid's smile vanished. He adopted an air of meekness and solemnity. "No, sir. I'm Fire Nation now, hey?"

_If every Firebender in the world dropped dead tomorrow, _the old man thought wearily, _you and your family would throw a feast and invite your neighbors to celebrate._ And with monsters like Zhao, Jeong Jeong, and Ozai running the show, who could blame them?

"Right," he said aloud. "I'll be gone for a while. Maybe a week. You batten down the hatches here while I'm gone, you hear?"

"I'll keep this place squared away, sir," the boy chirped. "When you come back, your ostrich will have a nice pile of warm straw to sleep on, hey? Nice oats and roots to eat. You rely on me, hey?" The kid rubbed his fingertips together with exaggerated avarice and laughed.

_Private Shang stabbed a kid like you just a few months ago,_ the old man almost said. _Now what would you say to that?_

He mounted his steed and started travelling west, towards My Lai. He had sailed nearly 600 miles to reach the colony of New Sozin to conduct Jeong Jeong's court martial, he could afford to go another 60 to see the cause of it.

* * *

><p>There. The charred bones had been policed up, but the square outline where the tavern had been torched remained, marked by grey ash. He could see where the padlock had been melted into the ground. The old man turned towards the mountains. He thought he could see the spur that Sergeant Cho had used as his observation point. 500, 600 meters away. It would have been an easy shot for the ballista crew.<p>

He mounted his ostrich again and rode on.

* * *

><p>The ground along each side of the road into the heart of My Lai was a bizarre, twisted tan. The old man had never seen such earth before. He had been under the impression that My Lai's economy was based on agriculture, why would they use this land for crops? Surely Earthbenders could have made the land fit for farming.<p>

He jerked the reins as the answer occurred to him.

Of course they had used this land for crops. That's _why_ it was all twisted up and dry. This area had once been rice paddies that were shin deep in water, before the Fire Nation had come.

* * *

><p>The heart of My Lai. The drainage ditch carved into the earth was still stained dark brown. The reports had mentioned that the soldiers had rolled the bodies into a nearby ditch afterwards. The bodies were gone but their life blood remained.<p>

* * *

><p>Here was the shrine, blasted to ruins. It had been located on the only hill in the area. It was simplistic in design- just a stout pillar with the faces of the local spirits engraved on it.<p>

The old man studied the smoke stained rock for awhile, wondering what it had looked like before fire blasts had shattered it. When he was through examining it, he turned to take in the sight of the whole of My Lai.

Nothing was there. A few buildings stood, and the roads were still recognizable, and blackened areas showed where the outlying houses had been. But nothing was there.

He suspected that no one would ever come back to live here.

Movement caught his eye. A lone rider, coming in from the north. The old man tracked the rider's progress as he came into the heart of My Lai and dismounted. The old man couldn't see any details, but could tell that the rider was standing still, unmoving. The old man damned his eyes for being old and strained to see who it was that would come here.

The stranger sat down, leaving his ostrich-horse to wander off. He didn't move beyond that, from what the old man could see.

Enough guessing. The old man mounted up and road down to meet him.

* * *

><p>"We train young men to burn people alive, but their commanders will not let them scribe the word 'fuck' on their helmets because it is obscene."<p>

The old man said nothing. No response was required from him, and he was scared that Jeong Jeong had lost his mind. The Admiral had chopped off his top-knot, leaving his white hair ruffling in the breeze. The old man didn't understand why, and was wondering of he would live to see sunset.

"I couldn't stand it. The lies. The idiocy. The blatant refusal to acknowledge our own will. Nobody who was in charge understood the war we were fighting."

And his eyes. His eyes were dead, almost glazed over. When they had turned on the old man he thought his heart had stopped beating.

"Horror has a face... and you must make make a friend of horror. Horror... and mortal terror are your friends. If not, they are enemies to be feared. I remember when I was with the Jumpers in the Moki Lang... seems like a thousand centuries ago. We were behind enemy lines looking for targets to destroy before the invasion. We called for fire..."

And the voice. His voice was dull, the words slurred. He could have been discussing the weather for all the emotion he showed.

"We misidentified a target. We thought it was an enemy HQ. It was not. We burned a camp of the soldiers' families to the ground. The children... they screamed and burned and the sounds they made were not human. And I... I... cried. I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I wanted to remember it. I never want to forget. For a moment... for one clear, shining moment... I was an Earthbender, and those were my babies out there on fire. And I felt like screaming because the world was too fragile and too... too horrific to live in for one more second. But the world wasn't letting me go, and I was trapped in it. It was like my own belly was eating my alive from the inside. And it struck me then- like a sword. Like a sword made from diamond. Like somebody split my skull with a crystal sword. My God. The genius of it. The will to do that to somebody! Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. I realized that we had to become stronger men, _because_ we are not monsters. We needed men who would fight from the heart, men who had families, who had children of their own, men who knew love... but who had the strength... the strength to do that. We would need men who were moral- but at the same time were able to delve deep into their inner fires and unleash their most primordial instincts. Men who could shelve their self-control in the backs of their minds and scorch the world without any judgement... it was judgement that was the real enemy. Not horror. It is judgement that defeats us."

And the hands. His hands would shake violently, and then calm down. Every few seconds he would shake again. The patterns that the fingers would shiver in resembled advanced Firebending techniques. The old man realized with a deepening sense of unease that Jeong Jeong was trying desperately not to unleash his power.

"I have seen horrors. Horrors you've never seen. But I knew that you had no right to call me a monster. That you might have the moral right to slay me, but not to judge me. Until you've stood there and watched horror at work, you had no right to judge."

He giggled. The old man jumped as the skin at the back of his neck crawled.

"And you didn't. Despite your best efforts, Ichizami, the Fire Nation did not judge me. They gave me a medal for it."

His giggles erupted into a fit of breathless laughter. After a while, the laughter slipped into sobs, and then quieted down into silence. Soon enough, Jeong Jeong spoke again in his lifeless voice.

"I once saw a snail crawl along the edge of a razor. That's my dream; that's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor... and surviving. Perfect balance. Unceasing self-control."

Jeong Jeong reached into his robe and drew out a scroll. He tossed it gently at the old man's feet.

"I know that you are no messenger boy, Ichizami. I had meant to drop it off at Zhao's desk when I returned, but I have decided that this is more fitting. I want you to be my herald. You alone tried to judge me. I want you to tell them what I told you here."

The old man stooped down to grab the scroll. "Who do I give it to?"

"As long as the Firelord reads it, I don't care."

"What is it?"

Jeong Jeong shrugged.

* * *

><p>The old man was alone now. Jeong Jeong had departed, turned his back and left like the old man wasn't even there.<p>

He unrolled the scroll meant for Firelord Ozai and read.

He rerolled it and tied it shut with a crimson ribbon.

He stood there in the heart of a blackened, ash covered village and thought for a while.

He mounted his ostrich-horse and rode back home.


End file.
